06/17/2021

State Budget Update: Ohio Senate Passes Budget Bill, Conference Committee Convenes

 

Last week, the Ohio Senate voted 25-8, along party lines, to pass its version of House Bill 110, the $75 billion two-year state operating budget for FY 2022-2023. As you may recall from our earlier communications on the budget, the Ohio House passed its version of the budget legislation in April. Now, both chambers must agree on what provisions from each version of the bill will be kept in the final budget proposal, to be sent to Governor DeWine for his signature by June 30.

 

Among the major outstanding items that require a decision are public school funding, income tax cuts, rural broadband Internet access, and childcare.

The Legislature has started hearings of its Conference Committee, which will work to hash out the differences between the House and Senate on the budget bill within the coming days. OSMA is providing feedback on a list of health care-related items under consideration by the Conference Committee, including:

• Support for Medicaid coverage of Nicotine Replacement Therapy products to help Ohioans quit use of tobacco;
  
  
• Opposition to provisions that would modify current law regarding patient consultations with physicians not licensed in Ohio;
  
  
• Support for certain drug data disclosures by health plan issuers and pharmacy benefit managers;
  
  
• Support for Medicaid coverage of postpartum care for mothers for 1 year post-birth;
  
  
• Opposition to language that would start over the Medicaid Managed Care organization rebid process; and,
  
  
• Opposition to provisions that make up a medical practitioner conscience clause applying to health care professionals as well as health insurance providers, which would inhibit Ohioans from getting necessary health care services and give insurers (despite not practicing medicine) the ability to refuse to fulfill a claim on broad, largely unobjectionable, and intrusive grounds irrespective to medical necessity as determined by a licensed physician or health care practitioner.

Your OSMA advocacy team is working hard to communicate to legislators about the impact of policies in the budget proposals that impact medicine in Ohio. We will be closely monitoring the proceedings as the Conference Committee finalizes the state budget plan based on the contents of the bill passed from each chamber. OSMA will also closely review the final bill sent to the governor for approval and will advocate for further action if necessary to protect patient care and the physician profession.

Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks!